


Saturday Night Blues

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: Star Trek The Gentle Seasons Series [58]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bickering, Blues, Crew as Family, Crew of the Starship Enterprise as Family, Friendship, Light Angst, Loneliness, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26942575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: Another lonely Saturday night.  Then McCoy learns that loneliness is halved when it is shared.
Relationships: James T. Kirk & Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock
Series: Star Trek The Gentle Seasons Series [58]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/695088
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Saturday Night Blues

Another lonely Saturday night, McCoy thought with a sigh. 

Just another lonely Saturday night.

And I'm feeling sorry for myself.

When had it come to this, he wondered.

When had it seemed better to sit by himself and think of all the love he was missing out on?

When had it gotten more familiar to live with loneliness than happiness?

When had it gotten easier to sit by himself than trying to do something about it?

He jumped to his feet. He couldn't stand himself! He needed to escape! Anywhere but this room! Anywhere! Anywhere!

Spock walked down a quiet corridor in a fog. What corridor he traveled did not matter. In fact, he had no idea where he was or what time it was or why his stomach was accountably growling with hunger.

His stomach did not growl with hunger. He never allowed it. And yet here was the undeniable evidence that he was indeed hungry. Logic therefore followed that the reason for his hunger was that he had not eaten a meal in a long time.

But how could that be?! He did not forget meals!

And yet here he was with a growling stomach. Missing meals equals an adverse reaction to one's primitive animal system. Can't beat logic like that, even if he'd like to ignore it.

And he knew the reason why he had forgotten his poor stomach.

That challenging experiment back in the lab seemed to have no solution while it held a death-lock on his attention. He was beginning to form the theory that the logical answer was that the experiment itself was invalid and therefore illogical. But yet there all were all of those factors standing ready to offer proof positive that the experiment was indeed logical and valid for the simple reason that it existed. Can't beat logic like that, either.

He was beginning to have dark thoughts about logic, if it was going to be as counterproductive for him as it was proving to be this evening. All he needed was to get back to his quarters so he could have a change of scene. Perhaps that would help. Oh, yes, and feed that hungry tummy of his, or else its growling was going to keep him from thinking straight until he had appeased it.

As difficult as it was for him to admit, even he had animal appetites and occasionally he had to meet their needs. Hunger. Sleep. And sex. Sex! The hardest appetite to keep under control that there was! How well Spock understood its lures. And its downfalls. And how mightily he fought against its siren call. That's why he labored so long in a lab when off duty. And his fellow crewmates just thought he was dedicated!

A door suddenly swept open, there was a blur of motion, and a body collided solidly with his. Spock had never seen it as a hazard, coming from the side the way it did and all. And he should have, because he had excellent side vision, almost akin to that of some lizards. But he had been preoccupied with his thinking and had not taken into consideration that a human cannonball might invade not only his three feet of personal space, but penetrate much further than that-- especially if he was not paying any attention.

"Oof!" he cried out from the suddenness of the onslaught and the pain of the impact. So undignified for a Vulcan to say! But that was all he could manage after having his breath nearly knocked out of him by someone who must've played defense in high school football, because he sure tackled like one.

Then instinct kicked in and some sort of need for the preservation of the species. Neither person was in that dire of a threat, though, so the main objective became the need to avoid further bodily injury to either one. Therefore it quickly deteriorated into what could only be called a wrestling match by any uninvolved observer.

Spock grabbed the hurtling body and held onto it as another set of arms grabbed him in a tight grasp and held fiercely onto him, too, to prevent them both from falling. But the other guy had not been deprived of his oxygen supply as Spock had, because he had been the one doing the tackling. He could still speak very well. And soon proved it.

"Ouch! What the hell?! Watch where you're going! Where's the fire anyway?!"

Then ensued the usual untangling of assorted limbs that has been the subject of many a slapstick movie. There's a reason for that. Because in that situation, it is almost impossible to get limbs back to their proper owners without a lot of wrestling around. Which was odd, because their owners had never seemed to have any problems repossessing their body parts before this incidence. But now the problem was practically insurmountable.

But finally the task was completed, and the two slightly embarrassed men tried not to look at each other as they stood aside and determined that they had correctly retrieved their own originally issued limbs. They were also trying to cover their frustration over such a humiliating encounter. What they needed was an interruption so that the colliders could get themselves composed again. At any other time, ten people would have been walking these halls and breaking up the tension with their solicitude and smart asides. But now when they were needed, they did not appear. And that only added to the uneasiness between the two awkward guys.

"Sorry," Spock mumbled, but he did not really mean the apology. After all, HE had been the one attacked in such an unseemly manner. He saw himself as the injured party since he clearly had the right of way.

"Me, too. Sorry," McCoy muttered, although Spock had been the one hurtling-- Hurtling!-- through the hallways. Who would've thought that one had to check for speeding cross traffic when exiting a room? Apparently, one did-- if Spock was anywhere in the vicinity. 

"What are you doing here?" McCoy asked as he straightened the sleeve of his tunic. "Out for an evening stroll?"

"Returning to my quarters," Spock answered logically, because that was what he had been doing.

McCoy frowned and stopped messing with his clothing. "How you doing that? Taking the long way home?"

"I do not understand what you are trying to tell me, Doctor."

"Try this one on for size, then!" McCoy thundered, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder while his eyes blazed. "I was coming out of that door because it leads to my quarters! I don't know where you thought you were, Commander, but it sure as hell isn't on the level where your quarters are located! Because this is my turf, not yours!"

Spock looked around, stupefied. "Are you certain?"

"Listen, Spock," McCoy said in a low, menacing voice. "I may not know too many things that I'm more certain about than what I'm telling you now. You're lost! I know where I am, and you don't! Now unless I stepped into a time warp when I left my quarters and got belched out somewhere else in order to collide with you, you can take what I say to the bank! This ain't your level!"

But Spock, of course, was looking blank and was quite stuck by something else that McCoy had said. "Why would I want to take your statement to an institution where money is housed when there is no possible reason for my doing so--"

"Don't! Don't even start with me!" McCoy ordered as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've had about as much crap as I can handle for awhile! Don't you start in on me, too!"

"Doctor, what is wrong?" Spock asked with concern.

McCoy waved him aside. "Nothing. Nothing. Just forget it. I'll just be on my way... somewhere."

"Doctor, it seems that I am needing distraction because I have too much on my mind, and you appear to be needing company because you are bored and needing distraction of your own."

McCoy opened his eyes and stared at Spock. "When did you get so insightful?"

Spock shrugged. "I do not know. Sometimes knowledge just comes to me."

"Did you also get the knowledge of how to help me?" He waved Spock away. "Stop struggling for an answer and looking so puzzled about how to reply. That was mean and petty of me to say. At the moment I don't like myself very well, so I guess I wanted you to feel hurt, too."

"Did it help you any?"

"No, it did not. And maybe it might help me if I thought about someone else for a change. Give my mind a vacation by occupying it with someone else's problems. How about that? Wanna be my guinea pig? Wanna tell me what's got your mind so preoccupied that you're walking wrong corridors in the middle of the night?"

"Well, perhaps it might help," Spock said as he led McCoy toward the turbo lift. "Perhaps we can get something to eat in the day room while we discuss it. I have discovered that I was working so intently that I missed my evening meal."

"Can't have that now, can we? Don't want you getting sick or malnourished. I might even partake of a snack. Come to think of it, I didn't eat much tonight, either. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself," he finished softly.

"Excuse me?" Spock asked.

"Never mind. It's not worth repeating." McCoy looked up as a new thought caused him to give Spock a genuine smile. "I bet your food would taste better if someone else was eating with you, wouldn't it?"

"It would! Oh, and hot tea! We must have hot herbal tea!" Spock decided with enthusiasm. "I believe that we both could benefit from its curative powers. And it would be so settling."

"That is something we both like, isn't it? Hot tea?" McCoy asked, brightening. "We might find that we have other things in common, too, if we think about it."

Spock gave him a friendly smile. "Yes, Doctor, we both might. You know, I believe that it was a good thing that I was walking in the wrong corridor just now."

McCoy smiled back. "I believe that it was, too."

"Well, Scotty, did you find the missing duo?"

"Aye, Captain, and in the damnedest place! Watching the stars on the observation deck and drinking tea! Tea! They asked if I wanted to join them, but I told them that it would take something stronger than tea to get me to sit and watch the stars whirling around the Enterprise! I'd rather watch how the machines whirl around inside our lady and keep us travelling in space!"

Kirk smiled indulgently. "To each his own, Scotty. I'm just glad that they're spending some time together. They've both been too wrapped up in themselves lately. I couldn't seem to reach either one of them, but somehow they found something in common."

"Perhaps misery likes company, Jim."

Kirk smirked. "Perhaps it does." He stirred himself out of his thoughtful mood. "Now that we've got the two of them settled and quiet for awhile, how about a sip of the brew to put a cap on the evening for the both of us?"

Scotty brightened. "Don't mind if I do, Captain, as long as you're offering! That would be a wonderful way to end a Saturday night on the Enterprise for sure!" He lifted his glass in a toast. "To the Enterprise!" he proposed with enthusiasm.

"And to all who sail with her," Kirk murmured as his mind fondly swept over the faces of his gallant crew.

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing of Star Trek, its characters, and/or its storylines.


End file.
